Chile taxes low-value imported goods sold remotely and makes digital platforms VAT contributors

What changed in detail

Ley N° 21.713, published in the Diario Oficial on 24 October 2024 (Núm. 43.982-B, CVE 2561825), amends Chile’s IVA law (Decreto Ley N° 825) in three places that concern goods sold from abroad:

• a new article 3 bis makes operators of digital intermediation platforms, whether foreign or domestic, IVA contributors on the sales of goods and supplies of services concluded through them;
• a final paragraph added to article 4 treats goods located abroad as located in Chile when they are bought remotely from a seller with no domicile or residence in Chile by a buyer who is not an IVA contributor, and their price, including accessory charges, does not exceed USD 500;
• a new number 18 is added to article 12 letter B, the list of IVA exemptions on imports.

These goods are taxed at the general IVA rate of 19%, whether sold directly or through a platform. Article tercero transitorio, number 1, provides that the amendments in article 3 bis, article 4 and article 12 letter B take effect twelve months after publication. The SII applies them from 25 October 2025.

Other IVA changes in the same law, including the extension to all remote services, took effect earlier, on 1 November 2024.

What it means

The regime has been live since 25 October 2025 and is still in force. The SII set the registration procedure for these sellers and platforms in Resolución Ex. SII N° 84 de 2025 and the declaration and payment rules in Resolución Ex. SII N° 93.

Two points are easy to miss. The USD 500 rule is not limited to marketplaces: a foreign web shop selling directly to Chilean consumers is caught too. And the platform rule in article 3 bis reaches domestic platforms as well as foreign ones, so a Chilean marketplace can owe IVA on third-party sales it intermediates.